Dealing with Negative Reviews

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We all get them. I, sometimes, give them. It’s heart breaking on both sides.

I hate giving them, because I know how much work I put in my own work. I know how much I love the characters and the world I created. When others don’t like my creation, it hurts. This makes it hard to do it to other people. I want to love their work, but sometimes I can’t. Part of being a reviewer is to state the truth – at least, the truth of your opinion.

So, the question is, how do you deal with a bad review?

Don’t engage. Your knee jerk reaction is to defend your book. Often, what the reader says, you disagree with. Arguing a review is not the way to do it. I’ve never had an author argue with one of my reviews, but I’ve seen it in other reviews. I’ve seen it on blogs and on Goodreads. It turns me off from reading that author’s book. Ever! Not as a reviewer, but as a reader. Good. You’ve resisted. However, this doesn’t mean you have to keep everything bottled up. Call a friend and vent. Sometimes it helps. Do something for yourself. Eat chocolate. Go on a walk. Listen to loud, angry girl music, watch your favorite comedian on YouTube, or take a long, warm bubble bath. Binge watch a show on Netflix. Do whatever you want to do that will bring you joy. Now that you’ve calmed down and life is good again, go and read the bad review again with a pencil in hand. Take notes. What are some of the points the reviewer brings up that they did not like. This works well if the reviewer is constructive. If they aren’t, reword on your paper so it is constructive. Get more reviews! Strive to find more reviewers or author interviews with book bloggers or booktubers. Talk about your book. Get the information out there. One bad review won’t ruin it all, it just feels awfully dark for authors. KEEP WRITING!!! Don’t let one review or one rejection turn you away from writing. If you love to write, then keep doing it. Remember that this is just one person, or maybe a couple. No book can please everyone. Life of Pi is such a popular book. Everyone loved it. My husband loved it! I couldn’t get through it. I didn’t like it. That doesn’t make it a horrible book. It makes it a book that I didn’t like. See the difference? If you can please everyone, then I urge you to get into politics. LOL! You need bad reviews, too. If I go to a book and all the reviews have 5 stars, then I often think this author has a lot of friends and family willing to review for them. As a reader, bad reviews are important for me so I can see different point of views. As an author, bad reviews are a dark cloud. I totally get that. But try to see it from a reader’s perspective. It may help.

The bottom line is, you need to develop some tough skin. From personal experience, this is definitely easier said than done. Move on and accept that there is a bad review. Try to find the positive in it or ignore the reviews. Also, don’t quit writing!

Good luck! Happy reading and writing!!!